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Meet the Delegates |
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Emmanuel Nengo
UNIPROBA (Unissons-nous pour la Promotion des Batwa), Burundi |
How do you perceive the relationship between Indigenous Peoples (IP) and UNEP?
"For myself, the relationship between Indigenous Peoples and UNEP is fairly new. Earlier on, it was difficult for Indigenous Peoples to talk or to have an opportunity to express their problem through an international organization like UNEP. In all UNEP’s activities, there was no inclusion of indigenous peoples.
The future is to invite firstly, indigenous peoples to all meetings organized by these international organizations. Secondly I think UNEP can organize many activities directly with indigenous peoples because there are some associations which speak on behalf of indigenous peoples. It would be beneficial for UNEP to work in the field of indigenous communities to obtain the real issues affecting them directly." |
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Albert Deterville
Caribbean Antilles Indigenous Peoples Caucus and the Diaspora,
Saint Lucia |
State of the environment in your own region:
Which environmental threats do you consider most challenging for your own region?
“Growing up, I knew from my community, we could interpret when a hurricane would come, because the grass hoppers and the cock roaches would fly, we could detect that. (…) You don’t need those satellite stations (…) as a matter of fact my father was a fisherman and in the evening we would watch the formation of the clouds and we would know (…) and as a matter of fact they could even determine it from the catch they would get.”
“The knowledge is normally transmitted inter-generational, it is not documented in schools. It is not scientific in a modern way, but it is scientific. It is a common knowledge, it has not yet become public property, and it has not yet been written down. That is what we are working on right now. We recommended having audits. I don’t know how UNEP can help us with that.” |
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Legborsi Saro Pyagbara
Movement for the survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP), Ogoni Nigeria |
Are there any (thematic) areas in which you think UNEP should focus on in its work with Indigenous Peoples? Why?
"I think in relation to IP, UNEP should work on biodiversity conservation especially in places where biodiversity has been destroyed. UNEP should develop an international regime.
Livelihoods depends on biodiversity - Rivers, fishing etc. UNEP therefore, should focus a lot on biodiversity.
A second area that needs attention is capacity building. We see a lot of alien terminology. UNEP should try to build capacity to help IP to play a more significant role in building capacity at the local and international levels. The environmental field is very technical. Training on environmental issues, workshops, awareness campaigns and joint collaboration on key issues eg climate change could be very useful." |
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